NGO and non-profit sector interest in FOSS began to emerge roughly three years ago, in step with the maturation of a number of prominent FOSS solutions, the growth of private sector and government-sponsored adoption, and the general—and widely publicized—perception that FOSS constituted a viable, non-commercial alternative to Microsoft domination of the software market. Online literature, journalistic coverage and (limited) scholarship on the topic reveals palpable excitement about FOSS's potential—often in ways that express and pull together both pragmatic and political motivations. A number of prominent NGO-based FOSS success stories (both inside and outside the U.S.) have played a large role in widening FOSS enthusiasm in the sector. [Tactical Tech]